Orlando Sings brings the legacy of Matthew Shepard to life through music, singing and poetry in their upcoming show of Grammy-nominated “Considering Matthew Shepard.”
“Orlando Sings is a performing arts nonprofit that organizes a family of choirs, including the Orlando Sing Symphonic Chorus, which is 120 voices strong; Heart Harmonia, which is an adult auditioned soprano/alto chorus; and a fully professional chamber choir called Solaria,” said Andew Minear, the group’s founders.
The group will perform their complete work contemporaneously with a chamber orchestra, soloists and projections at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in the Alexis and Jim Pugh Theatre. Shows will take place on June 1 at 8 p.m. and June 2 at 2 p.m.
The show, composed by Craig Hella Johnson, is meant to pull the audience through America’s most notorious anti-LGBTQ+ hate crime while humanizing the man who became a martyr.
“I think the first time I heard about Matthew Shepard was when I was in middle school,” says Zahary Pecore, the singer portraying Matthew in the concert. “I remember finding an article about Matt Shepard probably when I was in the eighth grade. And just remembering like, this is what happens if you’re different. You know, this is what happens if you are a gay man in a place like where I grew up, which is a very small town, a small religious town. So it definitely stuck with me because I’m like, you know, I don’t want this to be me. I don’t want this to happen to me.”
Shepard, a student at the University of Wyoming, was abducted in the very early morning of Oct. 7, 1998, by two individuals, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson. The men beat and assaulted Shepard only to tie him to a split-rail fence in a remote area of Laramie, Wyoming leaving him to die.
“There’s a beautiful, poignant collection of poetry called ‘October Mourning,’ where a lot of the texts come from. So [Johnson] assembled this libretto, from a couple of different poets and all in it is structured somewhat like a passion setting,” says Minear.
The show is able to tackle these hard themes by breaking the show down into three sections: a prologue, the main body and an epilogue.
“It’s just been so healing for me as a queer man to learn about his story and his tragedy. Portraying and getting the chance to sing his story through what Craig Hella Johnson, the composer, would assume is his point of view, it’s just a huge honor. I hope I can get through it emotionally, to be honest,” says Pecore.
The second act of the play places a magnifying glass on what makes Shepard an ordinary boy, thus forcing the audience members to see him as more than a murder, more than just a gay man who was tragically killed, but a simple man trying to achieve his hopes and dreams.
“Matt is just ordinary; he likes ordinary things and he likes to jog and eat pasta and watch movies. And you know, he likes TV,” says Pecore. “It really just humanizes him … the only reason he’s extraordinary is because of his death and that kind of like, really brings you full circle. You know, what are we doing while we’re alive?”
The show’s third and final part presents the audience with Shepard’s last moments. Pulling them onto the fence with him as the frigid cold takes hold of him, his hopes and his dreams, leaving everyone asking “Will somebody someday stumble upon me? Will anyone remember me after I’m gone?”
“The epilogue at the end, which sort of serves as a mirror, a bookend to the prologue where the singers ask these questions … ‘Considering Matthew Shepard,’ and we as artists and as audience members are asked to consider, how do we respond to this kind of hate and this kind of violence?” says Minear.
Shepard’s death became a catalyst for change, ultimately resulting in the passing of The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, JR. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009. This federal law, which was signed by President Barack Obama on Oct. 28, 2009, expanded the 1969 U.S. federal hate crime law to include biased crimes directed at someone based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
“You can’t help but put yourself in that story one way or another,” says Minear. “Or imagine how you would respond, so you walk out of the room and you’ve experienced something that changes you … and sometimes words alone are not enough, and when wounds are set to music it can multiply the impact of them. When we hear a group of voices crescendo and swell with the emotion, you can’t help but have your heart swell along with it in a way that it just isn’t the same when it’s just words by themselves.”
Orlando Sings, a group born through a pandemic and isolation, uses their music to bring the community together and find beauty in tragedy. It offers educational and outreach programs for senior performers as well as very dedicated high school singers.
“[High schoolers are] really discovering how to express themselves and especially after COVID that’s just been such a hard thing for them to do. They don’t know how to express their feelings, so they turn to like violence and they turn to anger. I think music can often be the one place that people have permission to express how they feel without having to talk about it. And it’s a way for us all to connect to other human beings,” says Pecore.
Additional reporting by Jeremy Williams.
Orlando Sings presents “Considering Matthew Shepard” plays at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in its Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater on June 1, starting at 8 p.m., and June 2, starting at 2 p.m. Tickets start at $39.50 and are available at DrPhillipsCenter.org.
